I would cut it off as died before age 40.
My tops are:
Eva Cassidy
John Belushi
Keith Moon
Andy Kaufman
Sam Kinison
Jim Croce. Talk about what might have been.
Bruce Lee
Robert E Howard
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Randy Rhoads.
(How old was SRV?)
Jimi!
j
(ETA: Ponders if “Hendrix” should be specified for younger posters. Probably not.)
Harry Chapin
He was 35.
My list:
- Buddy Holly
- Jim Croce
- John Belushi
Also, though he just misses the OP’s cutoff of 40 (he was killed two months after his 40th birthday), I would include John Lennon, who had just returned to creating music after taking five years off to raise his son Sean.
Oh, and Bill Hicks, of course, if we’re allowed stand-ups.
j
Buddy Holly
Karen Carpenter
Amy Winehouse
George Gershwin (38)
Jimi Hendrix (27)
John Belushi (33)
Stevie Ray Vaughn (35)
Janis Joplin (27)
Cass Elliot (32)
Bobby Darin (37)
And maybe most tragically …
Rebecca Schaeffer (19) killed by a deranged stalker
Off the top of my head, Stephen Crane (28).
Otis Redding. Died at 26.
Amy Winehouse (27)
Ian Curtis (23)
And probably saddest for me, Kirsty MacColl. At 41 she was maybe not as young as the other people cited so far, but the frustrating details of her death, and the fact that she no doubt had years of great music ahead of her, make it a rough one for me.
Same thing with Adrienne Shelly, murdered at age 40. The circumstances are still enraging.
Dennis Wolfberg. One of the greats of comedy already when he developed melanoma.
Duane Allman. Few have topped him on the guitar.
In addition to Jim Croce and Karen Carpenter
Terry Kath of Chicago. Accidently shot himself at 31.
Gram Parsons
Robert Johnson
Kurt Cobain
Jimi Hendrix
Bon Scott
Otis Redding
Nick Drake
Clarence White
Sandy Denny
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Sean Taylor. Had he lived, he’d be pushing 40 and probably retired from football and (this is extremely speculative but I believe he would be) waiting for a call from the Hall of Fame.
Favorite actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman. At age 46, he died after the OP’s stated cutoff age of 40, but I can’t not mention him, because he was such a phenomenally talented performer. He went WAY too soon - 46 is not old for actor, he still had decades worth of amazing performances in him. An enormous loss to the world of film.
Favorite musician: Jaco Pastorius, no question. Greatest musician to ever touch a bass. Died age 35 in a totally pointless altercation with a bartender. He had major struggles with alcohol addiction and mental illness, but he was by no means a lost cause - I do think he could have pulled it together if he had the chance, but sadly it was taken from him.
Favorite author: no dice there, all my favorite authors either lived to a ripe old age or are still alive.
If it doesn’t have to be in my lifetime, then George Gershwin (age 38, malignant brain tumor).
Musician: Kurt Cobain (27), with honorable mentions for Elliott Smith (34), Amy Winehouse, and Ian Curtis.
Actor: John Belushi. And in the category of over the 40 cutoff but still way too young, Phil Hartman and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Author: John Kennedy Toole. It’s an odd choice for me because I didn’t particularly like A Confederacy of Dunces. But my problem was with the main character; I thought Toole’s writing was fascinating and he could have done amazing things.